In a telephone network, a network cable from the central office is connected to a building entrance protector (BEP) located at the customer site, where the individual telephone lines are broken out line by line. The network cable, which consist of a plurality of tip-ring wire pairs that each represent a telephone line, is typically connected to a connector block that is an integral part of the BEP. Such connectors may be, for example, the ubiquitous 66-type punch down connector, an SC 99 type connector block, such as are available from Lucent Technologies Inc., or a mini-rocker type connector such as those sold by A. C. Egerton, Ltd.
A mini-rocker type connector generally has a movable top section which comprises two wire insertion holes and a lower fixed section which houses a pair of terminals, each terminal having a terminal strip for receiving a wire. The top movable section pivots about a pivot point located towards back side of the connector. The top section has a movable latch member to maintain the top section in its closed position. To open the top section, a user releases latch member and pivots the top section around the pivot point to its open position.
When the top section is open, the terminal strips do not intersect the wire insertion holes, and when the top section is closed, the terminal strips intersect the wire insertion holes. In order to establish an electrical connection between the wires and the terminal strips a user first opens the top section, i.e., pivots the top section to its open position, inserts the pair of wires, and then closes the top section. Upon closing the top section of the connector, the wires are brought into electrical contact with the terminal strips. To remove the wires and/or break the electrical connection, the process is reversed.
Referring now to FIGS. 1-3, there is shown a prior art connector 10 having a movable top section 12, a fixed lower section 14, a living hinge 32 and a pair terminals 28a,28b. As seen in FIG. 2A, each of terminals 28a,28b includes one of a pair of wire-wrap tails 29a,29b and one of a pair of side extensions 30a,30b that are used to seat terminals 28a,28b, respectively, in connector 10 and to prevent terminals 28a,28b from rocking sideways. Because each of terminal pairs 28a,28b, must be electrically isolated from the other, it is necessary to position terminal 28a toward one portion of lower section 14 and terminal 28b toward another portion of lower section 14, as shown in FIG. 3. This results in the formation of a gap G between side extension 30a of terminal 28a and side extension 30b of terminal 28b. The dielectric strength between terminals 28a,28b is directly proportional to the size of gap G. Therefore, if gap G is reduced, the dielectric strength between terminals 28a,28b is also reduced, with negative results.
In order to improve the dielectric strength between terminals 28a,28b, prior art connectors employed a base 34, as seen in FIG. 1, that is dimensioned and shaped for receiving lower section 14 of connector 10. Base 34 includes a pair of terminal openings 36a,36b separated by a wall 38 so that when connector 10 is inserted in base 34, terminals 28a,28b extend through terminal openings 36a,36b, respectively. Also, when connector 10 is inserted in base 34, a cavity C is formed by side extensions 30a,30b, wall 38, and the bottom of lower section 14. A gel, having a high dielectric constant, is placed in cavity C thereby insulating terminals 28a,28b thus improving the dielectric performance of connector 10. Such gels are known in the art and commonly used in connectors of the type described.
A drawback of using gel to improve dielectric performance is that it requires additional steps in the installation process of the connector. Also, if the gel is not properly inserted, sufficient dielectric strength may not be achieved and the connector may fail.